Once a year, Berlin prison theatre aufBruch leaves the walls of the correctional facilities to work on selected literary and dramatic pieces in special locations around the city of Berlin.
To mark the 75th birthday of director, dramatist and visual artist Einar Schleef (1944 to 2001), aufBruch will once again return to the former airport Tempelhof this summer to present DIE SCHAUSPIELER by Einar Schleef. Until recently, this space provided accommodation for refugees.

In Schleef’s comedy, a theatre group visit an emergency accommodation to carry out studies for a socially critical play – perhaps Gorki’s “The Lower Depths”: research for a realism that is to be as effective as possible. The actors submerge themselves in the misery, the suffering residents emerge from their isolation – they’re all actors, everyone acts “as if”. The actors meet these declassed people with the gesture of better socially positioned guardians of culture. But they cannot maintain this role for long. Politeness turns to violence; understanding to aggression.
The aufBruch ensemble will perform in a Berlin location that is part of contemporary history. Schleef’s play is linked to the participants’ biographies: how do we balance above the stage of our lives? With which dream, with which trauma? Performing Schleef strengthens the very meaning of doing prison theatre in the first place.

A theatre production by aufBruch KUNST GEFÄNGNIS STADT

The play will be performed by a mixed ensemble of day-release prisoners, former prisoners, actors and Berlin citizens: Christian Krug, Frank Zimmermann, Hans M., Hans-Jürgen Simon, Irene Oberrauch, Josef, Juliette Roussennac, Katharina Försch, Lasha Jologua, Maja Borm, Massimiliano Baß, Mathis Koellmann, Matthias Blocher, Mohamad Koulaghassi, Patrick Berg, Rita Ferreira, Roland Moed, Sabine Böhm, Salah, Ulrike Wolf.

Director Peter Atanassow   Stage designer Holger Syrbe  Costume designer Thomas Schuster  Dramaturg Hans-Dieter Schütt Music coach Vsevolod Silkin   Productionmanager Sibylle Arndt   Artistic and technical support Lukas Maser Assistant director Franziska Kuhn  Costume assistant Melanie Kanior   Production assistant Vlatko Kultzen Graphic design Alexander Atanassow

Tickets: 15 € / 10 € (discounted)

Tickets on sale from:  5th August 2019

Funded by a grant from the Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
Supported by the JVA OV Berlin, JSA Berlin, Volksbühne Berlin.